Household victimisation surveys are run in many countries and aim to enhance the comparability of crime statistics. International comparability based on police statistics alone is insufficient due to cross-country differences in reporting practices (OECD 2010).

In 2005, Australia had the 9th highest victimisation rate for assaults or threats (3.4%) amongst OECD countries for which data are available (the OECD average was 2.9%). Iceland and the United Kingdom had the highest victimisation rates (5.9% and 5.4% respectively) whilst Italy, Japan and Portugal all had rates below 1.0%.

For burglary with entry in 2005, Australia was ranked equal 5th highest alongside the United States at 2.5% amongst OECD countries. The United Kingdom and New Zealand had the highest victimisation rates at 3.3% and 3.2% respectively and the OECD average was 1.8%. Some of the OECD countries with the lowest burglary victimisation rates included Austria, Germany and Japan (all 0.9%), Finland and Spain (0.8%) and Sweden (0.7%).

Since 2000, the overall victimisation rates have fallen in 18 out of the 20 OECD countries for which information is available, including Australia (OECD 2010).